Engineering 4.0 to Improve the Safety of Plant Operators in a Metalworking Company of International Importance: The Ansaldo Energia Case

The paper describes how a multidisciplinary team has developed, on behalf of Ansaldo Energia Spa, a methodology based on the technologies made available by Industry 4.0; a methodology that allows rescue teams to quickly intervene in the event of man-down in isolated areas of the plant where the unfortunate person would risk being found with significant delay and consequent problems for his physical well-being. To achieve this result, an appropriate hardware and software device has been developed by a highly specialized supplier, under the direction of the team. Such a device makes it possible to alert automatically rescue teams in real-time, at the occurrence of the event, and geo-locate, with extreme precision, the man on the ground. The methodology, once devised, has been standardized in a series of sequential and generalized steps, in order to make it applicable to any type of company or construction site, or workshop in which the event of the man-down may occur. The methodology is configured as a real toolkit for the protection of operators from damage, even extreme, that can derive from prolonged waits of the rescue teams, each time that operators incur negative events for their safety, whether they are exogenous (illnesses with fainting, heart attacks, epileptic attacks, strokes...) and endogenous (accidents in the workplace).